Last Updated on July 22, 2025 by Jacques Wong, B.Sc.
I get a lot of questions and requests for Fundamentals of Insurance exam information. It’s the first exam you need to take to get your Level 1 insurance license and start your career. In Alberta and Ontario, they use a different system. But don’t worry, we have information on that too!
What is the format of the Fundamentals of Insurance exam?
The Fundamentals of Insurance exam is 100 multiple choice questions. A big part of the exam will be home and automobile insurance so be sure to know those inside and out.
Knowing what is covered and what isn’t is super important so be sure to brush up on that before your exam date.
What grade/score do I need to pass the Fundamentals of Insurance exam?
To pass the Fundamentals exam, you need a 70%. This is higher than the requirement for CAIB 1 (60%) but it’s still easier because it is multiple choice only.
How long is the Fundamentals of Insurance Exam?
You have 2.5 hours to complete the exam.
WHAT DO THEY TEST ON THE EXAM?
The test questions are selected randomly each time to form the 100 questions you’ll see on the exam. However, from our experience and test data, there are some general guidelines:
- The majority of the exam will focus on your personal lines coverage (homeowners, condo, etc.) – this corresponds to Chapters 6 & 7 in our course.
- About 10-20 questions will come from Auto Insurance.
- There would be about 5-10 questions on Liability so it’s not a major part of the exam.
- The first 4 chapters on Government and Insurance is fairly important as well.
What do I need to watch out for?
The hardest part of the exam is reading the questions. They like to use a lot of double negatives and tricky words to confuse you. They might include facts in there that seem relevant but aren’t. The multiple choice options will be tricky as well. They will have 2 answers that are pretty obviously wrong but 2 answers that look like they might be right. Your job will be to pick the “best” answer.
I hope this was able to help some of you – if you have more questions, reach out to me.
We also have a comprehensive Fundamentals of Insurance online course available.